Pick-N-Pack

Even though the NFL’s annual Super Bowl is the most over-hyped event in sports, especially in Dallas this year, I’ll watch the game with an eye to the past.

Bart Starr and the Packers beat the Cowboys for the NFL championship in 1966, and again in the 1967 Ice Bowl, where frostbite gained a foothold on the final play of the game when Jethro Pugh couldn’t, and gave whole new meaning to the pain of da’ feet in defeat .

Terry Bradshaw and the Steelers beat the Cowboys by four-points in the 1976 and 1979 Super Bowls, matching up two of my favorite teams at the time. Barry Switzer and the Cowboys took one back from the Steelers in the 1996 Super Bowl, but by that time Jerry Jones had purchased the Cowboys, fired the Man in the Hat, and gave me a reason to root for the Steelers all the way by 1996.

While I’m overjoyed that Jerry Jones’ dream of having the Cowboys play in the first Super Bowl in their hometown (even though the town isn’t officially Dallas anymore) was dashed early in their disastrous 2010 season, I still have to cheer for somebody in the Super Bowl.

I’ll make my choice for the game based on three quarterbacks. Not two, three.

First, we have Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers. Ben started his week in Dallas for this year’s Super Bowl by breaking curfew to go out eating and drinking with his bud’s, the same behavior that has twice contributed to complaints of sexual harassment/assault. While he’s managed to stay out of jail, he hasn’t stayed out of the doghouse with the NFL commissioner and some Pittsburgh fans.

Second, we have the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers seems like a nice guy. He defended Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler after Cutler failed to finish the playoff game against the Packers due to what many believed was a minor injury. He also has proven himself to be a very patient quarterback, while having to put up with ex-Packers quarterback Brett Favre’s frequent retirements from the Packers, only to come back and muck things up by asking management to take him back as the starter at the end of two successive pre-seasons. Rodgers maintained his professionalism throughout these annual Favre fiascoes.

 The third quarterback I base my Packer preference on is Brett Favre himself. What he did to the Packers and to Rodgers with his on and off retirements of convenience was deplorable. He finally retired and reinstated himself into an eventual trade to the Jets, where he retired after a couple of mediocre seasons on the field, and amid more than one report of sexual improprieties with females working in the Jets’ organization. Favre finally retired from the Jets, only to come back to play two more seasons for the Vikings. After a wretched season in 2010, I can only hope Favre retires for good this time.

The Packers won two NFL championships with the classy Bart Starr at quarterback. They won one Super Bowl with Brett Favre under center, but many Packer fans will consider Favre the Be-All-End-All Packer quarterback unless, or until, Aaron Rodgers helps bring the Lombardi Trophy back to Green Bay. I hope this is the year he does just that.